MealMe, the startup integrating food ordering tech into apps, picks up $8M

MealMe, a unified API that embeds food and retail ordering into consumer apps and websites, announced on Thursday that it secured $8 million in Series A funding. The newly raised capital brings the total amount raised to $16 million. 

MealMe has undergone several changes since its launch in 2019. Initially, it was a consumer app designed to help people find the best deals on delivery from restaurants and grocery stores. It then evolved to allow consumers to order food directly through the MealMe app.

The company has now completely transitioned to a B2B model, offering its API for other businesses to integrate ordering technology into their applications and websites. When a company integrates MealMe’s API, it gets access to real-time product pricing and availability, and it enables customers to order their products from local stores.

MealMe says that its API provides inventory data on more than 1 billion products from more than 1.2 million grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers across the U.S. and Canada. It currently serves more than 100 customers, including Fantuan Delivery, Favor Delivery, TripAdvisor, and others.

Matthew Bouchner, co-founder and president, told TechCrunch, “We built the API for ourselves with the consumer app to add ordering from stores into our app, and then realized that, OK, well, we can continue growing our app, or we can pivot to B2B and be the infrastructure layer for anybody that needs the ability to pull menus and inventory and send orders into stores.”

Bouchner added that the company made the pivot after seeing the growing trend of embedded commerce, which essentially involves integrating e-commerce features into existing platforms. This allows businesses to offer their products directly to customers through platforms they already use.

“Everything is going to be embedded. You’re going to be able to order from your car, from your TV, from your existing social networking apps, with your AI-based assistant, and there needs to be an infrastructure layer that connects that consumer-facing platform to stores and to marketplaces … I think that we are going to be at the forefront of everything embedded for years to come,” he said.

The Series A was led by Mercury Fund with participation from existing investors Gaingels and Palm Drive Capital. 

The company will use the new capital to strengthen marketing efforts and grow the team to deliver better developer support to enterprise customers. In addition to food ordering and delivery, the company aims to focus on expanding into other areas, such as broader e-commerce and AI.

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